The present invention relates generally to a safety and protective device for hinged doors which prevents injury to individuals or animals by stopping objects from entering a gap between the hinged door and the adjacent part of the door frame.
More specifically, the present invention relates to a safety and protective device for hinged doors which prevents objects from entering a gap between the hinged door and the door frame and which is folded about transverse fold lines to provide the device with a compact form for easy packaging.
When a door is hinged to a door frame, a vertical gap between the door and the adjacent door frame is formed whenever the door is ajar, but is not present when the door is closed. Children, adults and animals are often injured when fingers and other body parts are placed into the gap while the door is in its open position and then the door is closed crushing the fingers and other body parts between the door and the door frame.
A prior art attempt to prevent such injuries from occurring is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 474,633 in which a flat sheet of material extends outwardly far from the door in some operative positions.
Another prior art attempt to prevent such injuries from occurring is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 5,001,862 in which a foldable protective member or device extends over at least a portion of the height of the front and/or rear face of the door. The protective member is foldable only along a vertical axis and may be accordion-like or in the shape of a recoiling tube. The protective member expands and contracts to cover a gap created when the door opens thereby providing protection against the insertion of fingers and other body parts into the gap. A larger protective member, larger in the vertical direction, would provide greater closure of the gap between the door and the door frame when the door is open and thus greater protection against the insertion of fingers and other body parts.
However, it is a drawback of this protective member that it is not foldable in a transverse direction so that the packaging required for the protective member must have the same or a larger vertical dimension than the protective member. This results in an awkward packaging when the vertical height of the protection member is relatively large, especially since the protective member may be as large as a door, which is at least about 7 feet high.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a new and improved safety or protective device for closing a gap between a hinged door and a door frame which can be conveniently packaged regardless of the vertical height of the protective device.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a new and improved safety or protective device for closing a gap between a hinged door and a door frame which is easily stored.
In order to achieve these objects, a protective device for preventing injury by shielding body parts from a gap between a door and a door frame in accordance with the invention comprises a one-piece protective sheet having a plurality of vertical sections or flaps each extending over only a portion of the height of the sheet and which are foldable about one another to thereby enable the sheet to have a reduced height when folded about the flaps. To form the flaps, the sheet is partitioned by one or more transverse fold lines or bends extending between the lateral edges of the sheet on one side of the sheet. The flaps are connected to one another on an opposite side of the sheet and thus pivotable with respect to one another to enable the sheet to fold into a compact form for shipping and storage regardless of the vertical height of the device. For larger devices, more fold lines and flaps would be provided so that the device would still have a compact form.
The device also includes attachment mechanisms for attaching a lateral edge portion of the sheet to the door and an opposite lateral edge portion to the door frame. The attachment mechanisms may be an adhesive with a removable backing layer, or screws, nails and the like. In use when attached to the door and door frame, the protective device will cover the entire gap between the door and the door frame, regardless of the degree of opening of the door, and prevent entry of fingers and other body parts into the gap between the door and the door frame.
In one embodiment, the sheet may be made of corrugated plastic having an inward planar layer adapted to face the gap between the door and the door frame, an outward planar layer coextensive with the inward planar layer and ribs connecting the planar layers together. In the inward planar layer, crimped bends or cuts are formed extending in the vertical direction of the sheet to enable the sheet to bend in the vertical direction inward. In this manner, the sheet can attain a desired flexible form allowing it to flex during the opening and closing movements of the door. The vertical crimped bends or cuts can be arranged in any pattern, spacing and number to provide any desired degree of flexibility.
The lateral edge portions may be pivotally connected to a remaining portion of the sheet. This may be achieved by cutting the inward planar layer of the sheet in a vertical direction alongside each lateral edge portion, in which case, the lateral edge portions are attached to the remaining portion of the sheet by the outward planar layer.
In another embodiment, the sheet may be made of any type of rigid or semi-rigid plastic material with transverse score lines formed on one side of the sheet to enable the sheet to be bent into a compact shipping and storage position. Vertical score lines are also formed on the same side of the sheet to enable the sheet to bend and flex when installed. The vertical score lines can be arranged in any pattern, spacing and number to provide any desired degree of flexibility.
The protective device can cover the entire height of the door or any portion of the height thereof, and can be placed on either or both of the front and rear faces of the door.
As used in the present description and claims, the term xe2x80x9cdoor framexe2x80x9d means any structure to which a door is hinged. In some cases, for example, a door frame per se is not used, i.e., the door is hinged directly to a wall or other support structure. The term xe2x80x9cdoor framexe2x80x9d thus includes any such structure to which a door is hingedly mounted.